Sep 1, 2010
62,649

The Orbea Ordu has remained relatively unchanged since its introduction several years ago. While we haven't seen much wind tunnel data about the bike, it certainly did the job for Craig Alexander, who won both the 2008 and 2009 Ironman Hawaii World Championship titles aboard the machine. In both of those events, he rode the company's standard black paint scheme. This year, he's got a personal, one-off paint scheme, and a machine equipped with Shimano Di2. His front end features a Shimano PRO aerobar, outfitted with some new extensions designed by Retul's own Mat Steinmetz, which PRO debuted at Eurobike.

Fit for a King

Last year, Crowie ran a somewhet upright position. This year, he looks like a bullet.

As the defender of the Kona title, Alexander is subject to a lot of scrutiny regarding his ongoing level of racing form. Specifically, his cycling abilities have come under some scrutiny in the past few years. The big story of the 2009 Ironman World Championships was whether Chris Lieto would be able to ride away from Crowie fast enough to steal the title, or whether Alexander's superior running legs would seal the deal (which, of course, they did). But this year, the Australian has some more tricks up his sleeve. He's gone back to the basics, and gotten dialed up with a new, more aggressive bike position by Steinmetz. Last year, Crowie wasn't as comfortable on his Size 51 Ordu, and ended up levering himself up on his aerobars, with his head in the wind. This year, Steinmetz fit him to a size 54 bike, and found a way to anchor Alexander more comfortably on the bike. His new position is more comfortable and more aerodynamic, and even opened up a few degrees of hip angle, so it should be more powerful as well. This year, the big story at Kona may well be how much Crowie's bike leg has improved.